


Bite This

by sweetNsimple



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: BAMF Spock, BAMF Uhura, Established Relationship, Fake Science, Happy Ending, Happy For Most People, Hurt/Comfort, Jim Is A Good Bro, Keep McCoy Safe, M/M, McCoy & Uhura Friendship, Not for the Original Character, Original Character - Freeform, Original Character is Tortured, Original alien, Possessive Spock, Protective Spock, Pseudoscience, Scotty & Uhura Friendship, Scotty is Scared for Good Reasons, Sexual Harassment, Some Humor, Some People Just Will Not Take A Hint, Some angst, Spock Takes Care of Business, Spock Takes Drastic Measures, Stalking, The Original Character is Business, Torture, Uhura Is Very Happy By the End of This, Uhura is a Good Bro, Unless You Take Drastic Measures, protective Uhura
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-15
Updated: 2017-03-15
Packaged: 2018-10-05 17:24:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10313312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetNsimple/pseuds/sweetNsimple
Summary: Ka-Athru stared at Bones and said, “Exotic.  It means nonnative, which you all are.  And it can refer to animals, which you all are.  There is a trade for nonnative animals.  Dr. McCoy would fetch a high price.”  The bridge was stunned to silence.  Ka-Athru noticed this belatedly and added, as if to assuage them, “That was a compliment.  Dr. McCoy is very pleasing for a human.”  All six eyes focused on the taut lines of Bones’ back again.  “You should be complimented.”Bones spun around with a snarl.  “Fucking COMPLIMENTED– ”





	

The writhing mass of contracting tentacle-like leaves paused for a moment to move and readjust until a puckered center was revealed.  The fleshy part bulged and fluttered like something living was caught within, the most obscene and terrifying pregnancy.  And then, with a release of putrid air, the round flesh began to part, pulling back bit by bit like the flower it truly was, with point-tipped petals peeling away. 

Within _that_ mess of green and red decoration and sickly sweet-flavored air was a disturbing number of seeds that terrifyingly resembled very sharp yellow teeth and a long, thin pronged pistil that could be mistaken for a tongue by everyone who was not a botanist or Captain James T. Kirk, otherwise known as the flower child of the universe.  So, really, everyone but Sulu and Jim.

“Wow,” Sulu breathed, in awe of this plant specimen that was easily two times taller than him and wider horizontally than three of him laying down head-to-toe.  A tentacle – and what incredible contractile vacuoles, he thought, such an advanced species – slithered forward and flicked at him.

“I know, right?” Jim said to his side, smiling.  “What a beauty.”

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, you fucking idio-”  Dr. Leonard McCoy grabbed them both by the collar of their shirts and dragged them backwards away from the plant just as it snapped out and tried to eject a large amount of digestive enzymes on them.

“What an adaptation!” Sulu cried.

“Look at it go!” Jim hooted, transfixed as the enzymes acted like acid and degraded the red grass it had landed on to a dark brown sludge.

“Spock!” Bones roared.  “Some assistance, if ya please!”

“Hey, Bones, why are you wearing a respirator?” Jim asked innocently, attention caught for just a second.

“Well, I don’t know, Jim, could it be because there’s something in the air that is affecting your endocrine system and forcing your body to release large levels of serotonin and endorphins?”

“That would be weird,” Jim said. 

Sulu giggled.  “She’s tickling me,” he said when they both turned to him.

And, by “tickling me”, what Sulu meant was that the large and unidentified plant had wrapped its pistil around Sulu’s leg and was slowly but surely cinching down on it.  The plant’s peristome was wide open and waiting while its tentacle-like leaves contracted and writhed, creating a paper-like rasping sound. 

Jim laughed.  “It likes you,” he told Sulu.

“JESUS FUCKING CHRIST,” Bones hollered.  “SPOCK!”

~::~

“– I can therefore conclude,” Spock was saying, “that the plant life on this planet is the dominant species and, due to the pheromones they release and their sheer volume, renders this planet inhabitable by colonists.”  He looked, as ever, dapper with his straight black hair and slight green complexion stretched over a blank expression.

What made it difficult for Uhura and Scotty to look at him was that his shirts – both science blue and under – had never been recovered after Spock’s daring and potentially suicidal recovery mission against the carnivorous plant Sulu and Jim had first encountered.  Bones had cared for his numerous, but luckily minor, injuries from the transporter room to the briefing room with the single-minded determination that was characteristic of him, but there was still a scar running from the lobe of Spock’s left ear to the bottom of his jaw, just grazing his lips.  Compared to the gaping wound it had been, this was a great improvement. 

One boot was missing while the other, still on his foot, was shredded.  His pants, still buckled around his waist, unfortunately revealed that he was a briefs kind of Vulcan and, not only that, but that he did cherish Jim’s gag gift of lipstick-kiss-printed underwear. 

It was a sorry sight and Bones had been hiding his face behind his hand ever since Spock had shooed him away from putting his shoulder back in place with a glance.  Jim and Sulu were both down in Medical where Bones would be if Spock would stop being stubborn for two whole minutes and come with him. 

The diplomat of planet X’Anthra was off to one side of the table, five eyes on Bones and one narrowed glare on Spock.  They spoke and the translator worked a second after.

“We need this planet for colonization.  Kill the plants.”

“That would be unwise, Ambassador Ka-Athru,” Spock replied.  “The delicate atmosphere of the planet is completely dependent on the vegetation.  You cannot colonize the planet because of the plants, but you also cannot kill the plants without completely depleting the atmosphere.  It would be simpler and save time to leave now than to cause irreparable damage and be forced to leave later.”

All six eyes turned to Bones.  “We need this planet.”

“Yeah?” Bones drawled.  “Nothing I can do about that.”

Ka-Athru reached for Bones with one hand, three long fingers lined in suckers and two pointed thumbs.  Bones casually sat back in his chair, putting himself out of reach.

Ka-Athru stopped and made a strange chortling sound in their chest that was possibly equivalent to a growl.

“If you will excuse us now,” Spock interrupted.  “Dr. McCoy must escort me to Medical for a full post-operational checkup.  It is required and I have put it off long enough.”  He nodded to Dr. McCoy.  “Doctor, if you would.”

“Gladly,” Bones breathed, surging out of his chair.

“Aye, we’ll take care o’ everythin’ else,” Scotty said to their backs, sounding only slightly bitter.  “We know what we’re doin’, aye, Uhura?”

“Unlike some,” Uhura answered, even though Spock and Bones were already out of the room.  Her dark eyes targeted the diplomat. 

All six eyes, which had been fixated on the back of Bones’ neck, swiveled to her.  The staring contest that followed was long and epic and ended with the diplomat whimpering and lowering their eyes.  Uhura stood, triumphant and spoke down to the diplomat.  “Dr. McCoy is a happily married man, Ka-Athru.  _Happily_.”  By tone alone, she suggested the terrible things she would do to them if they tried to interfere with that happiness.  “Your advances will not succeed, Ambassador” she hissed.  With a flip of her hair, she turned and was out the door.

Scotty let loose a breath of anxiety that he had been holding.  He gave Ka-Athru, who looked uneasy and also somewhat vexed, a grimace.  “She’s a scary one, ain’t she?  Don’t wanna be on her bad side, that’s fo’ sure.”

Rising, he gave Ka-Athru a lazy salute.  “Good luck to ya.”

Secretly, though, he knew that Ka-Athru had run out of luck.  Spock, who was largely unbothered by the emotions or physical intent of others, had noticed the diplomat’s fascination with Bones.  Noticed, noted, and cataloged, probably. 

Spock was a great guy, no doubt – but not when it came to others sniffing around his husband. 

“That’s how I know we were not meant to be romantically,” Uhura had said once, smiling fondly as Spock spoke so coldly and harshly to a yeoman that had stared at Bones’ butt that the yeoman broke down sobbing.  “He was never so possessive of me.”

“You would’ve killed him,” Scotty had said.

Uhura’s smile revealed all teeth.  “I would have.”  She had walked off and Scotty had shaken in his boots for a good ten minutes before he went back to the engine room where he was safe.

The world aboard the Enterprise was a strange one that ran by different rules than on any planet surface.  Life was simple and complicated, with such an open society that Scotty knew who to go to if he needed tied up and hung from the ceiling and where to go if he needed an acupuncture. 

And everyone knew that Bones belonged to Spock.

~::~

Spock revealed no emotion and did not sink to any level of public display of affection while in Medical.  And yet, it was somehow as if he had loudly and forcibly placed a claim on Bones and the space immediately around him because not a soul wandered too close.  Spock stared straight ahead of himself, shoulders back, back straight, and hands folded in his lap.  There was something going on in that Vulcan mind of his and Bones was desperately hoping _not_ to find out because he had this feeling he would end up having to kill his husband if he did. 

“Dr. McCoy,” Spock said, and the sound of his voice was so startling that Bones jumped.  “Could you please close the curtain?”

“Rather not, actually,” he grumbled. 

“Dr. McCoy,” Spock said again, voice lower and rougher.  His dark eyes snapped to Bones.  “Close the curtain.”

Bones did, scowling all the way.  He closed it with the knowledge that he was about to give Spock such a chewing out that the Vulcan would leave Medical with his tipped ears down and his tail between his legs.  He was going to make his husband regret taking that dominant tone of voice with him.  He was going to –

Hot breath across his nape shut down that thought process.

“Here is where the X’Anthra put their mating marks when they find a partner of special interest to them.  They latch on with both sets of teeth as they penetrate their mate and are penetrated by their mate simultaneously.  There is a special gland here that releases certain hormones in the X’Anthra that create a strong emotional bond between the mates.”

A tease of teeth made Bones’ breathing stutter.  “Ka-Athru wishes to put their teeth to your skin.  Claim you.”

“That’s stupid,” Bones snapped, hating how his voice cracked.  “And irrelevant.  You think I’m going to go off and do hanky-panky with someone else?”

“You fail to understand that the X’Anthra do not follow the same moralistic thought process of humans, Leonard.”  Spock nipped.  Bones’ fingers twitched around the curtain, eyes fluttering.  “The X’Anthra do not ask for permission from their chosen mate.  If the individual is unmarked, they are available.  That is their ideology.  The closest proximation we can get to such a claim has been ignored by Ka-Athru.”  He was referring to the dark hickeys he had been leaving on Bones lately.  Bones had been wondering about that, as Spock was an insanely private individual and the marks had been welcoming a lot of commentary from the peanut gallery.  “If they will not acknowledge my marks as equivalent to the X’Anthra mating mark, then we must assume that they believe you to be available and will therefore attempt to claim you.”

“Bullshit,” Bones snapped, teeth bared.  “I’ll fight them if I have to.”

“Except you do not believe in killing,” Spock said.  “You are a doctor, a healer first and foremost.  You have never taken your phaser off stun unless ordered to by Jim and only in dire situations.  And only with incredible regret afterwards.”

“I don’t have to kill them.”

Spock’s silence was doubtful and answer enough.

“Well, what do you suggest I do?” he snarled.  But Bones’ fingers were gripping the curtain tightly.

He would never say it out loud, but he was afraid.

He did not have to say it out loud, though, because Spock was his husband and mate.  Spock had walked to every corner of his mind and lingered in the dark spaces Bones tried to forget for the simple curiosity of trying to understand them.

Spock’s hands came up and over his, tangling their fingers together.  It was obscene and such a filthy thing for Spock to do when there was only a curtain separating them from the rest of Medical that Bones’ knees were almost knocked out from under him.  He felt the flow of Spock’s emotions, felt the soft, sensitive slide of skin and heat, and swore he could hear his own heart pounding too.

Above everything else was the thrum of some emotion that sounded like a mute roar, felt like a hurricane building in his chest, and tore at everything like a tornado. 

It was Spock – Spock and his possessive nature, overwhelming him. 

“I suggest you do nothing,” Spock said primly.  “I will take care of this matter, as part of my duties to you as your husband and mate.”

“At least _try_ to pretend that you think I can handle myself,” Bones snarked.

“In most situations, undoubtedly.  In this situation, I would like for you to… _try_ to pretend that you think that I can care for you.”

Bones sighed.  Rigid tension in his shoulders slipped away as he leaned back into Spock’s chest.  “I do know that,” he grumbled.  “Never really get the chance to forget.”

Ineffectively, someone knocked on the curtain. 

“Hey, soooo,” Jim’s happy voice cooed, “I hear that we may not be getting along with the diplomat and, you know what?  That’s fine, that’s just fine!  Just, wow, have you looked at that guy – er – person – er – uh – Have you looked at Ambassador K-Ka-Athru?  Ka-Athru?  Wow, what a face.  So cool, right!  Just, you know.  Have you looked at them?  You’d probably be a little less salty if you actually checked them out.”

Bones refused to admit that his face was as dark as a red delicious apple.  “We could always just sick Jim on them,” he growled.

“Negative,” Spock said into the nape of his neck, incredibly composed.  “The X’Anthra, once they mate, never separate.”

“That’s not something I needed to think about.”

“I’m gonna open the curtain now,” Jim chirped, totally unconcerned. 

“JesUS, JIM – ”

~::~

Sulu and Jim were back on the bridge by the next alpha shift, but only just, and only by Bones’ good graces.

Both looked worse for wear, not unlike two people who had been drinking all night to the point of stupidity and back.  Whether they would survive all of alpha shift was yet to be determined.

The funny part was that Jim, for his hormone-induced prattling the night before about how the diplomat wasn’t really _that bad_ , seemed to deeply regret allowing Ka-Athru to stand by his side on the bridge to observe their working dynamics.  Not because Ka-Athru said anything, but because Ka-Athru had followed Bones to the bridge and hadn’t stopped staring at the back of Bones’ neck for the full fifteen minutes they had been on the bridge.

Despite the numerous warning they had received, Ka-Athru seemed to have drawn up some unknown source of confidence. 

“So, Ambassador Ka-Athru, what do you think of the U.S.S. Enterprise so far?” Jim tried in vain to distract the diplomat.

Ka-Athru spoke and then their translator grated out, “I find the human race to be very exotic.”

Jim tensed.  “Exotic like… a bird?  A plant?  I’m sorry, sir, but we try not to refer to others as ‘exotic’.  It’s insulting.”

Jim, barely four years out of the academy after only three years of academy training, had possibly also missed a few of his diplomacy classes while in the academy and so was not the best suited for carefully and gently explaining matters to alien species.  Jim was blunt, which was good to have in a variety of situations.

In this situation, Ka-Athru stared at Bones and said, “Exotic.  It means nonnative, which you all are.  And it can refer to animals, which you all are.  There is a trade for nonnative animals.  Dr. McCoy would fetch a high price.”  The bridge was stunned to silence.  Ka-Athru noticed this belatedly and added, as if to assuage them, “That was a compliment.  Dr. McCoy is very pleasing for a human.”  All six eyes focused on the taut lines of Bones’ back again.  “You should be complimented.”

Bones spun around with a snarl.  “Fucking _complimented_ – ”

“Lunch is being served to your quarters, Ambassador Ka-Athru” Uhura interrupted.  “As per your request to eat in private.”  She looked capable of quiet murder. 

Ka-Athru swayed their head and two eyes swiveled to Uhura.  It was obviously only the great pride of the X’Anthra that kept Ka-Athru from cowering before her, even as they attempted a casual retreat to the turbolift.

“Spock,” Jim said in a very soft voice.  “If you could please escort Dr. McCoy – ” not Bones, “to his quarters, that would be much appreciated.”

“Understood, Captain,” Spock said.  With short, quick motions that belied the calm of his voice, he stood to his feet and ushered Bones to follow him out.

As soon as the doors to the turbolift closed behind them, Bones shuddered.  “I’ll kill them.  I’ll kill them before I let them touch me.”

“No,” Spock said.  He wrapped a hand around Bones’ upper arm and pulled him close.  “You will not.”

Bones shuddered again.

No, he wouldn’t.

~::~

After the casual comparison between McCoy and an exotic animal up for purchase, Spock refused to let Bones out of sight.  This was fortunate as neither did Ka-Athru. 

From the moment Bones left his quarters in the morning to the second he returned later, Ka-Athru was always within sight.  Down the hall, slowly progressing closer and closer until only Spock and three feet of personal space separated them.

Over the next week of their mission of trying to find a habitable planet for the X’Anthra, Ka-Athru became more and more brazen with his intentions.  Bones at turns lashed out, which seemed to excite Ka-Athru, and ran away, which also excited Ka-Athru.  Jim threated Ka-Athru on multiple occasions with detainment, deportation, and even, at one time, an annulment of their agreement.  Ka-Athru was not deterred.  They knew that Jim did not have the power to follow through with such claims.

What Ka-Athru failed to recognize, however, was not Bones’ breaking point or the good Captain’s, but the Captain’s first officer and Bones’ husband and mate.  And that breaking point was reached when Ka-Athru had the gall to reach out and graze the back of Bones’ neck with a single sucker.  Bones had had a panic attach that night.  Spock had planned. 

~::~

Ka-Athru awoke in their quarters to faint discomfort and, more surprisingly, Spock sitting placidly across from them, one leg crossed over the other and arms folded across his chest.

Ka-Athru gurgled, not yet attached to their translator, and then screeched when Spock stood and towered over them.  Being almost seven feet tall, Ka-Athru was not familiar with any of the alien species aboard the Enterprise being taller than them, especially the half-Vulcan.

“I am aware that your species is capable of rapid regeneration of distal limbs and that your bodies have minimal sensory nerves, resulting in a lack of pain receptors.”

Ka-Athru looked down.  The X’Anthra did not lay down to sleep.  They stood. 

The ground was much closer than before.  And Ka-Athru’s four legs were missing.  Yellow-green slush, his blood, was spread all over the carpet. 

Ka-Athru laughed.  This meant nothing.  Spock was right – their legs would regrow and they were not hurt in the least.  There was a slight stinging sensation now that their legs were regenerating, but little else.  Ka-Athru had slept pleasantly through whatever torture the first officer had put them through. 

But then the stinging because worse.  It began to burn.  Ka-Athru gurgled again, confused, and then whimpering in pain.  Finally, Ka-Athru was screeching, writhing. 

Their legs were not growing back.

“Several plant species from the planet we visited not too long ago produced certain toxins capable of stopping the regenerative process of your species.  Not only that, but due to their highly acidic nature, I am led to believe that their toxins are also extremely unpleasant to come in physical contact with.  Completely unlike the easily ignored pain of having your legs cut off with a sharp, proficient blade.  This pain is likely to spread throughout your entire body.  The initial discomfort, I assume, is what woke you up.”

Ka-Athru looked desperately to the door.  Someone had to hear them screaming.  Someone had to be coming to help them.

They screeched and gurgled for what felt like an eternity, but no one ever came.

“You are wondering why no one is coming to your aid,” Spock said.  “It is because all guests in this section were moved to other rooms.  Some were upgraded to higher class units.  You are the only guest living in this wing.  There is no reason for anyone else to come this way.  I have also kindly offered to deliver your lunch and two dinners today.  No one will be expecting your presence again until tomorrow when we approach our next planetary destination.”

Ka-Athru gurgled and screeched and whimpered, but Spock was unmoved.  The human ability of empathy or sympathy were completed absent from the half-Vulcan. 

“You are aware that Leonard is mine,” Spock said calmly through their screeches.  “We have made no secret of our bond or marriage.  I have placed multiple bite marks on Leonard’s neck, visible from all angles, and yet you ignore this sign of mating which others of your species would have accepted as an equivalent of your mating mark.  You have been so brazen as to _touch_ my mate.”  Spock crouched down to be level with them.  “You should know that I have killed for my husband and mate before.  I choose not to kill you only because I would be suspected in your murder and removed from Starfleet and, therefore, my mate and friends.”

Then he was twice the fool!  Ka-Athru would tell everyone what Spock had done to them.

“If I let you live,” Spock continued, “you will be sworn to silence by your pride alone.  Only cowardly X’Anthra would ‘tattle’ to superiors to dole out punishment they are incapable of doling out themselves.”

Ka-Athru, screeching and whimpering, lowered their head. 

Because Spock was right.

Ka-Athru would tell no one.

Spock left them then and did not return with lunch or their first or second dinner.

Ka-Athru whimpered and gurgled throughout the day and night until the next morning when Spock finally returned.  Spock lifted Ka-Athru up and put them in the unused bed.  Spock then cleaned the stubs of Ka-Athru’s legs until all the toxic plant juices were removed.  There was nothing to do about the toxins already in their system except let it pump out of their pores in its own time.  Spock had taken this into account, Ka-Athru realized later. 

Ka-Athru had fully regrown in time for a lower officer to knock on their door and tell them that they had arrived at their destination.  Ka-Athru’s presence was being requested by the Captain.

~::~

Bones wasn’t sure why Spock had asked him to join him in the transporter room.  They both knew that Ka-Athru would be there soon and Bones didn’t – couldn’t – was so _tired of_ …

But Spock waited, hands behind his back, and Bones waited slightly behind him, hating himself for being weak and hating Ka-Athru for putting him in this position and so fucking angry and scared and tired that he wanted to close his eyes and not wake up for the next century. 

When Ka-Athru did finally arrive, it was… weird.  Ka-Athru’s six eyes spotted Spock and then slid away.  Ka-Athru stood near the door and said, slowly, “I am ready.”  And then nothing else.  Not one eye looked at Bones. 

Everyone noticed.

“…  Okay,” Jim said, nodding for a moment.  “Okay, sure.  Let’s go?”  He raised an eyebrow at Bones, like he thought the doctor had done something.

Bones shook his head.

Both the Captain and the good doctor turned their eyes on the other person most likely to put the fear of death into Ka-Athru.

But Uhura just smiled and fluttered her long eyelashes at them.  She spoke through her earpiece to the natives of the planet down below, letting them know that the landing party would be arriving shortly.

As one, they turned to Spock.  Spock held out two fingers, which Bones met with his own two in silent shock.  This was incredibly public of Spock and Bones felt almost like they were making out half-naked for everyone to see as their fingers kissed. 

“We will return shortly,” was all that Spock said.

“Don’t die,” Bones said, still in a state of shock.

“I do not plan to, Dr. McCoy,” Spock replied. 

“Good.”  He shuffled uncomfortably.  His fingers played with his wedding band. 

Spock’s hand covered his for a moment, wonderfully warm and conveying a sense of _protectlovewarmpossessminemineMINE_ – before Spock moved away, following by the rest of the landing party.

Ka-Athru only moved once Spock was on the transporter pad.  Bones, feeling slightly sadistic and curious, moved toward the diplomat.  “Hey, what’s that mark on your –”

Ka-Athru screeched and tripped over all four legs.

“Never mind,” Bones said, smiling. 

Spock’s dark eyes sparked at him.  It was almost like love or dark humor or something like that.

Jim cried out, “Energize!”, looking afraid for the diplomat.

Scotty, sharing that sentiment, choked out, “Energizing,” and sideyed a content Uhura as the landing party disappeared in a scramble of matter. 

“I think today is going to be a good day,” Uhura said to them, smiling. 

“Yeah?” Bones asked, an eyebrow shooting up.  “I think you might be right.”

~::~

END.

**Author's Note:**

> I just watched the first Alternate Original movie. At some point, I will watch the second one.
> 
> Quick question, though - did anyone else notice that Jim just seems to make everyone around him a little choke-happy? Most advanced weaponry, but everyone just wants to wrap their hands around his throat and squeeze. I counted. He was choked out three times during the movie. Boy's an idiot because he never gets enough oxygen to the brain.


End file.
